The Boston Red Sox had serious Shane Bieber fever before the two-time Cy Young Award winner returned to the Cleveland Guardians.
Bieber accepted a one-year, $10 million offer from Cleveland to stay place in the spot he’s called home for the entirety of his seven-year big league career. The new deal also includes a $16 million player option for 2026, and before Beiber shook hands with the Guardians and agreed to stay, the Red Sox put their best foot forward.
“Before Shane Bieber re-signed with the Cleveland Guardians, the Boston Red Sox were “aggressive” and made a “serious push” to sign the right-hander, according to sources familiar with the situation,” FanSided’s Robert Murray reported on Friday.
The two-time All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery, limiting the 29-year-old to just two starts last season. Bieber logged 12 scoreless innings before reaching the premature end of his season in April, and the road to recovery is expected to make its way to 2025. Yet, despite the setback year for Bieber, Cleveland’s front office remained fully interested in keeping the right-hander in a Guardians uniform next season.
It’s not nearly as much of a setback for the Red Sox’s offseason as even though Boston swung and missed on their bid for Bieber, the organization still has a plethora of options to explore at the start of Monday’s MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas.
“We’re very mindful,” Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow told MassLive’s Sean McAdam. “I watched 162 games and recognize that a big part of the equation, especially for a starting rotation that primarily relied on managing hard contact and pitching in the zone, is the ability to convert balls in play into outs and we didn’t that well enough. That’s a responsibility we all share. We made some changes to the (coaching) staff.”
The Red Sox could still strike a deal in the coming days and make it out of next week’s meetings with a new face added to the roster — or arm. Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki are among the handful of unsigned arms still available for Breslow and Boston’s front office.
